Beware of Scammers Trying to Steal Your Money Using the Texas Artic Blast

(Longview, Texas) - This recent artic blast brought snow and ice to many of you. Sure, it's pretty to look at and play in but it can also do some damage to your home. It's important to have your roof checked out after everything melts just to make sure everything is good.

Scammers will use this current batch of winter weather to try and take advantage of you. That's why I want to give you some tips on how to spot one. Using that information, you can keep your home safe and you won't run the risk of having your money stolen.

Beware of Scammers, Also Known as Storm Chasers

No matter the time of year; spring, summer, fall or winter and no matter the storm; tornado, flood, ice or snow; scammers will use these natural disasters to try and steal your hard earned money. They'll do it under the premise of being able to fix your problem at a cheaper rate than any of the licensed contractors or professional businesses in the area.

It all sounds great and you think a great service is being performed but that just simply isn't the case. These people are called storm chasers and should be avoided at all cost. The easiest way to identify one of these storm chasers is by them knocking on your door out of the blue and saying they can inspect your home for any damage.

Another red flag is they will give you an estimate for the work and then ask for 50 percent of the cost up front before starting any work. A final red flag, and one where you realize you've been duped, is when they postpone the work for whatever reason, continue to postpone the work and then cease communication with you all together.

How to Properly Get the Work Done

Find a licensed contractor or business to do the work or be referred to them by your insurance company. You will need to contact them to come out and do an inspection. They will not ask for an exuberant amount of money up front, if at all, to do the work. A legitimate business will keep in contact with you while doing the work.

We all hate a winter storm like we just got out of. Don't let a scammer extend the misery of the event by stealing from you.

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